LACK OF SUPPORT KILLS N. LAUDERDALE ORCHESTRA

NORTH LAUDERDALE -- After just two years in existence, the city's community orchestra has disbanded, City Manager Eric Soroka said.

Members of the North Lauderdale Community Orchestra, frustrated by a lack of community support and participation and a shortage of money, recently decided to give up the orchestra, Soroka said.

Soroka said the decision to dissolve the orchestra was shared by Bob Mindick, the director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

The orchestra was partially financed by the Parks and Recreation Department, Mindick said.

In a memo to Soroka, Mindick said, "I recommend that . . . the program be dissolved. Only three people have shown up at the last two meetings."

City officials had hoped the orchestra would grow and become self-sustaining, Mindick said. But they quickly realized that the interest in the orchestra just wasn't there, he said.

The orchestra had gotten off to a pretty good start, with nearly 35 musicians, said Ed Schultz, a member of the Arts Advisory Committee and a clarinet player.

But he said interest declined as members became frustrated with not having a place to practice. Nine months passed before the city reached an agreement to use the Silver Lakes Middle School music room.

By that time, membership had dropped to fewer than a dozen musicians, Schultz said.

"The diehards still met," Schultz said. "We had a lot of good people in the orchestra. But we just didn't have the funding and leadership to get us off the ground. It's a shame."

Mindick said he thinks the orchestra failed because the city's young residents are more interested in sports than in the cultural arts. "Some cities have stronger interest in sports and some in cultural arts," he said. "I don't see a great demand to get into the cultural arts in the city."

Mindick said that he is disappointed that the orchestra did not survive.

"We gave it a try," he said. "We got so many things that are successful and we need to give our attention to those."